Although 2017 expansion has been slowing down, in the first six months of the year the business is still running along a positive trend (+1% on annual basis). According to the Market Insights, set by Lineapelle Economic Service about the industry of fabrics, synthetic materials and leather substitutes, in the period some niche products have been hit by a few risky situations: for example, leather fibre board declined by 5% owing to a slowdown in Italy and in the United Kingdom, while fabrics dropped by 6% because of some difficulties in Spain, Germany and United Kingdom. However, accessories and components manufacturers are quite happy, since from January to June their sales increased by 3% compared to the first six-month period of 2017. The best performance has been achieved by small metal components, whose sound expansion reached +7%, on the European average; as regards footwear components, revenues went up by 2%.
In the first six months of 2018 fabrics, synthetic materials and substitutes have been slowing down (+1%); good trend for accessories and components (+3%)
